Scott Kempner, the erstwhile guitarist for the New York-based proto-punk outfit the Dictators and former frontman of the Del Lords (Kempner's primary band for pretty much all of the '80s), continued making music well into the '90s and 2000s as a member of bands like the Little Kings and the Paradise Brothers, and as a solo artist. Kempner's first solo album, Tenement Angels, was released in 1992 on Razor & Tie (which at that point, incidentally, was practically in its infancy, having formed only two years previously); he was joined by Springfield, MO-based roots rockers the Skeletons for that release. Kempner essentially dedicated the next 15 years to working with the Little Kings and, later, the Paradise Brothers, but he didn't give up his solo work. His second solo album, a rollicking roots rock affair entitled Saving Grace, was released in 2008. ~ Margaret Reges, All Music Guide
Scott "Top Ten" Kempner (born 6 February 1954, Bronx, New York, US) is the rhythm guitarist with The Dictators since they formed in 1974. He is also a founding member of The Del-Lords.
Kempner contributed "Apache Tears" to the 2007 compilation album, Song of America. He released his sophomore solo album, Saving Grace, in July 2008.
In Summer 2008, Variety said about Kempner: "If the world were a just and fair place, Scott Kempner would be stopped regularly by musicians and music fans thanking him for the effect the records he made with the Del-Lords and the Dictators had on their lives. Kempner's music is impossible to not like: He's the rare master at making three-chord rock 'n' roll - inspired by the 1950s and '60s - sound fresh and vital, simultaneously urban and twangy, heartfelt, political and personal."[1]